


Daughter of the Underworld

by Mystic_Moonstone



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Diamonds, Ghosts, Mist, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Raising skeletons from the ground, Riches, Skeletons, Spirits, gold - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:09:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28482930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystic_Moonstone/pseuds/Mystic_Moonstone
Summary: Growing up with a crazy woman with glowing eyes and hardly ever speaks english, Zira can say that her life isn't exactly what one would call normal. But when two strange kids (who claim their related to her) show up at her school, take her away to introduce her to the world of Greek and Roman mythology, and tell her about her past, Zira finds it hard to believe that her life with that woman was anything but normal. She travels with her half-siblings to fulfill a prophecy, while learning more about the life of a demigod. Her two best friends tag along and find places for themselves alongside Zira in this new world of demigods and mythology.
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

A lone figure sits on a black onyx throne decorated with skulls. Skeletons busy themselves around him as he stares into space waiting on something, or rather someone, to come to him. Muscles ripple beneath his albino white skin and his black eyes "glitter like frozen tar." His black hair flows down to his shoulders and bangs cover most of his forehead. He wears long black robes that often shimmer showing the tortured faces of the dead who've committed multiple evil deeds in their lives. He fidgets with a silver wedding ring on his finger.

Before him, the shadows suddenly shift revealing two children, who lift their heads to meet the gaze of the god of the dead. One of the children, male in gender, has pale skin, dark eyes, and long shaggy black hair. The other, a girl, has dark brown skin, curly cinnamon brown hair, and gold eyes. The two of them, although very different, are half-siblings.

"Hades." The children bow before their father.

"Nico." Hades addresses the boy, first.

Then his appearance suddenly shifts. His dark hair is now short and instead of his black robes, he wears a dark suit with a grey shirt the color of a tombstone. His tie is black and platinum striped and his entire suit shimmers with tortured souls similar to that of his black robes. His skin is so pale it almost looks blue and he wears the same silver ring.

"Pluto." The children address him in his Roman form.

"Hazel." Pluto addresses his daughter.

His appearance continues to shift throughout the whole of the meeting.

"Why have you called us here?" Hazel asks after she straightens. Nico stands up beside her.

"There was a prophecy." Hades answers.

"About the children of the Underworld." Pluto explains. "You are to go on a quest."

"Children of the Underworld?" Nico questions. "How do you know it is a quest about us?"

"And doesn't a quest require three people?" Hazel wonders.

"You are the demigod children of the underworld." Hades snaps. "And not all quests require three. But in this case, this one does."

"What is the prophecy." Nico and Hazel ask at the same time.

"Surely one of your camps will provide that for you." Pluto mutters. "But in the meantime, you are required to find the third child of the underworld."

"You broke the oath?" Nico questions his father.

"No." Hades slides his ring up and down his finger. "I told you once why I took you and your...uh... other sister, Bianca to the Lotus Hotel and Casino."

Bianca was Nico's older sister and Hazel's half-sister whom she never got the chance to meet. Bianca had tan skin, a light sprinkle of freckles across her nose, brown hair and brown eyes. She'd become a Hunter of Artemis but had died on a quest shortly afterwards while disabling a giant automaton created by Hephaestus, god of the forges.

Hades continued. "You asked me what happened to the other children of Hades. You see, one of them was a small girl. Her name... what was her name?"

"Zira. Her name was Zira." Pluto answers.

"Ah yes, Zira. She was, I think, four when we put her in the Lotus Hotel. But you see, we had to take her out early so she could start aging in time for the great prophecy. But then Percy Jackson came along and ruined everything which is why I had to take you and Bianca out.

"But Zira is still out there in the world. I believe she is the third child in the prophecy. You must find her and then you can start your quest regarding the prophecy." Hades pauses. "But she is different than you two."

"Different." Hazel blinks, taking in all of the information. "How?"

"She is a child of both of us." The god speaks in both of his forms, both Greek and Roman, at once.

"That's impossible." Hazel and Nico exclaim at the same time.

"Not anymore." Hades retorts. 

"Anyways, your task is to find Zira and take her to one of your camps to receive your prophecy. You've both played an important part in those other quests of yours, so this quest should be no problem especially with a demigod of both prophecies." Hades/Pluto flicks his hand dismissively. 

"Go now. The meeting is at it's closure. And no more talk of this being impossible. I expect both of you to succeed and if not, there will be consequences."

Nico grabbed Hazel's hand and shadow traveled out of his father's throne room just as Demeter and Persephone appeared arguing about cereal.


	2. Aylin

The door to our math classroom creaks open just as Mr. Stebbinz starts our lesson. We all turn our heads to see who will enter, though I already know. Plenty of other students had been absent this morning, but they'd already arrived, and with lame excuses as to why they'd come so late. My bestie was the only one left. Well besides Sajan. No one cares about _him_.

Sure enough my best friend enters the classroom, her gaze dropping to the floor as seventeen pairs of eyes turn to stare in her direction. And, what do you know, Sajan walks in right after. Great. I'd be so pleased to have a day without him in my life.

But unfortunately that would mean losing my bestie too. Those two had known each other for forever and although she was my best and only friend, there were secrets those two shared that I knew nothing about. I suppose I was jealous and I have every right to be. She's _my_ best friend. And he's bad news. I'm just looking out for her. I have no clue why she'd even be best friends with a _boy_.

Anyway, when my best friend came to this school, he came tagging along right behind her.

Mr. Stebbinz clears his throat to silence the conversations that had begun to sprout upon my best friend and that _boy_ 's entrance.

"Zira, Sajan, mind explaining why you two were late?" He asks. 

Zira looks the teacher straight in the eye (something I'd never be able to do no matter how hard I tried. Even if I managed, my eyes would go straight back down to those very interesting square tiles on the ground. Don't judge me, He's scary!). She didn't even flinch.

"I'm sorry for being late again Mister." Zira mutters.

"And why were you late?" Mr. Stebbinz repeats himself.

"My mom." And that within itself was explanatory enough.

Zira's mom is the crazed weirdo of the multiverse. Normally, in my book, weirdo would be considered a complement. But when referring to Zira's mom, we've gone far from compliment lands. Weirdo isn't even the correct term to describe her. Strange doesn't even mean anything compared to Zira's mom. Mad or crazy are far from it. Zira's mom is a whole new vocabulary herself.

There seriously needs to be a dictionary entrance with her name on it and then you wouldn't even need a definition. You'd just look at the word and go, "Oh. Okay." And then never use the word ever unless you need a really convincing excuse to not do something. Like go to school. I keep telling Zira to use that excuse but she's way too humble for her own good.

Zira's mom's name is Desdemona. And no, I'm not hating on Shakespeare, I, personally, like the character. We shall not use her first name in the dictionary entry. Her middle names aren't even words (unless they're words elsewhere...). They include: esogkitalula (the lula part is cute, everything else...), and iokaghrefostu (um.. no just no.). Zira's mom, no, Zira's whole family line was said to be a bunch of crazed weird people. Zira's the only one who's not affected.

Which now, I guess, I have to thank Sajan and his family for that. His family's not too bad, it'd be better if there were more girls in the family. Unfortunately it consists of five boys. Yay! So exciting. (Note the sarcasm) But his mom was the one to raise Zira into the wonderful person she is now. She did it willingly as she'd always wanted a girl (I feel ya) though I can't remember why Zira's mom had given Zira to Sajan's mom to raise in the first place. Their family history claimed that they'd always refused and yelled at people who'd offered to raise their young (you know, because no one else raises children to be crazed weirdos...). I guess Zira's situation was different.

Anyways, the conversation continues between the two late kids and the evil, scary, creepy teacher.

"And I'm guessing that's your excuse too?" Mr. Stebbinz turns his evil bloodthirsty gaze on Sajan.

Oh, might I mention that him and his mom are Zira's ride to school. I don't understand how she stands being in a car with five stinky, smelly boys. She has yet to teach me her ways.

"Uh, yes." Sajan answers.

"Ah, okay have a seat." Mr. Stebbinz marks them present. Not even tardy. That's the good thing about having Desdemona (not the Shakespearean woman) as a mom. Using that excuse would have gotten rid of all my tardies. Unfortunately I never arrive at the same time as Zira and I also would never ride in a car with five awful creatures who shouldn't even be considered human. Mr. Stebbinz also knows when someone's lying. So I always tell the truth in his class. (Not saying I don't tell the truth in other classes, just putting an emphasis on truth telling in this class.)

"What happened this time?" I ask Zira as she slides into the seat next to mine. 

Sajan's headed off in the direction of his friends. I don't even see why Zira's friends with him anymore. I mean, sure, she rides to school with him. But he's always hanging out with other people that aren't Zira. If he wants to be her friend, then I think he should choose his friend group. Zira's too nice and clueless to mind so I'm looking out for her. She doesn't seem to get it now, but she'll get it one day.

"I woke up to the smell of burning. Smoke was coming from the oven and when I looked inside, there was the blackest cake in the whole world!"

"Was it from your mom's chocolate failure?" I wonder.

A few weeks ago, her mom had attempted at making homemade chocolate. (I had no idea there was such a thing.) It made a mess everywhere! It looked nothing like chocolate. It was just a mass of black slimy goop. (How it ended up that way with such clear instructions, I have no clue. My mind is still blown to this day!) Her mom just sat there sobbing at her failure while Zira, Sajan, and I worked hard to clean the mess up. I don't know what Zira would've done without us. Well, without me, she doesn't need Sajan.

"No." Zira replies. "It was vanilla."

"Oh Heckadoodles! (Don't judge) You're kidding?!"

"Nope." Zira states matter-of-factly. Why am I even surprised? This probably isn't even _close_ to the strangest thing that has occurred in Zira's household.

"Wow. Poor Vanilla. She's faced the same fate as our dear friend Cocoa." I mutter.

"It really is a shame," Zira agrees. "How two amazing species of this world have to meet such horrid fates."

We share a laugh but Mr. Stebbinz silences us with a look. Party pooper!

Math is cruel. Spanish hates me. Science isn't too bad. Lunch at last! Too bad this school doesn't let us have recess. They're depriving us children of our much needed physical exercise while saying that we need to stay healthy. Hypocrites...

The school day drags by just like any other boring school day here at Golden Star Academy (where we raise our students to reach for the stars). It's a great name with a great description, but they seem to find it really hard to live up to that description. Or they do now. I can't say what it's been like in the past because I wasn't here my whole life and I wasn't existent in the year 1872. (Yes, the school was around for that long.)

And then at the very end of the day, Mrs. Lola decides it's very good to make an announcement about tomorrow. What were these teachers _thinking_? Telling us such _huge_ news at the very end of the day? My brain cells are confuzzled. Shouldn't they have given us time to digest the information throughout the day. I don't even know what it is...

"Class!" She silences us with her voice, not with a scary look like that evil Mr. Stebbinz.

We quiet down immediately. No one wants to make her mad. If we do, we're off to Mr. Stebbinz class for the worst punishment in all the world. 

"I have an announcement to make!" She tells us. Kinda obvious Miss Teacher, just say what you need to say.

"What is it?!" Some obnoxious boy yells as she rushes to get her papers.

"Stop producing sound and be patient!" I call back, annoyed.

Mrs. Lola writes that boy's name on her amazing white board and he immediately swallows down a rude remark he'd wanted to aim in my direction. He's now one strike away from Mr. Stebbinz's wide open doors. I ignore him. He's not worth my time. He's a boy after all.

A knock sounds on the door and then the principal, Mr. Viotto, walks in without waiting for a response. Two children, a boy and a girl, follow him in warily. They probably just had to experience one of his awful new student lectures, so I can't blame them.

The girl looks cool and pretty. She probably won't want to be friends with a weirdo like me. The other girls think they can call me "weird" to make me feel bad. They _really_ don't know me. Weird is a compliment, not an insult. Nothing insults me. Anyways, the new girl could also be nice like Zira and want to be my friend. I always thought Zira was out of my league but she was one of the first people to be nice to me.

The new girl has dark brown skin, cinnamon brown hair, and the most beautiful gold eyes. She has a really pretty smile.

The boy on the other hand made Mr. Stebbinz look _uncreepy_. I had no clue that was possible. He has real pale skin, dark eyes, and long shaggy black hair. He has dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in months and it was not helping his looks at all. He looks around at everyone as if searching for someone. He wasn't glaring or anything, but when his tired eyes locked with my naturally wide ones, all kinds of chills kept creeping down my spine.

His gaze locked with Zira's for a little _too_ long.

"Did you tell them?" Principle Viotto asks in his I-ain't-playing-with-you voice that he uses almost all the time.

"I-I was getting ready too." Mrs. Lola flashes him her sweet smile. I think she's scared of him. I don't blame her. Viotto and Stebbinz need an award for being creepiest people in the world (who're also best friends...) and they can add new boy right into their group.

Mrs. Lola turns back to us. "So class, starting tomorrow, you'll have two new students joining you."

"What schedules will they be following?" Someone asks.

"Yeah, we don't all have the same classes at the same time!" Some other person calls.

Mr. Viotto speaks up. He named both of their schedules. They had the same schedule. I'm seriously starting to feel bad for the girl. Then I realized they shared my entire schedule as well. And that everyone was looking at me.

"Ah, yes." Principal Viotto nods in my direction. "Aylin, you share their schedule. You can show them around the school and help them get to used to everything here."

Wonderful. I get to show creepy boy around. Hopefully the girl isn't a mean bully.

"Alright kiddos," Principal Viotto calls cheerfully. "Introduce yourselves." He squeezes creepy boy's shoulder like that's his new best bud. Creepy Boy slinks away from him.

"Hello." I think he's trying to be cheerful, it's not working. "I'm Nico di Angelo."

New girl is still smiling like this guy doesn't creep her out at all. She's so oblivious. I wanna be like her.

"My name's Hazel Levesque." (OoOoh pwetty!)

Mrs. Lola dismisses us after Mr. Viotto leaves and Nico and Hazel walk over to me.

A few girls walk over to our direction.

"Hey we can take Hazel off your shoulders for you." They say all at once. It's kind of creepy. I want to tell them no, but I also don't want to sound possessive. I don't know Hazel, after all.

"Um, if she wants to—" I mutter.

"Great!"

Then Hazel does something that completely surprises me as the girls start to drag her away.

"I'm good with Aylin, thanks."

The girls look at her surprised. "You sure?"

"You wouldn't if you knew her."

"She's _weird_."

"Well, what about Nico?" Hazel questions.

"He's a creep."

"Wow, say it to his face." I say under my breath.

"You're a creep." I did not think she'd do that.

"He's my half-brother." Hazel retorts.

"Oof." I say, though I'm just as surprised as the other girls. Creepy Boy and Pretty Girl are related?!?!?! They snort and walk away.

Hazel smiles at me. "So... about that tour."

I can't help but grin back. "Follow me." We make it like two steps before someone calls out to me. "Heckanoodles." I mutter.

"Aylin!" It's Zira. And lucky me, Sajan is right behind her. "Can we help?!"

She should be asking if she should help. Sajan looks as if he wants to be anywhere but near me.

"Sure." I say to annoy him and please Zira. To my complete disbelief, he looks relieved. Now I'm annoyed. He has released the Uno Reverse Card on me.

"Okay! Yay!" Zira smiles. I'm still trying to figure out how she's Desdemona's offspring. (Again, not the Shakespearean character!)

"What are your names?" Hazel asks.

"Sajan." Sajan says as if someone was actually asking _him_.

"And I'm Zira!" Zira says.

Hazel's eyes go as big as the moon.


	3. Sajan

The two new kids, Hazel and Nico, seem very curious about Zira instantly after she introduces herself. They ask if it's okay if they can come over which is strange because we've only met them that day. If I were in Zira's position, I would've politely said no and then explained why. Zira, on the other hand, instantly agreed, after she questioned if they're parents were fine with it. Any time she had the chance to make friends she took it, even if it meant doing something impulsively stupid. (Most of the time, that did _not_ end well.)

But what's even more suspicious is the fact that they told her their parents were fine with it, a little too quickly. I would have at least called my parent first if I was going to some strange person's house. Hazel and Nico didn't even consider it. They seemed a little too eager to come over to Zira's place. It was as if they knew something about her that we didn't.

But that couldn't be true. I'd known Zira for a very long time and I know she'd tell me if she knew these people.

Aylin seemed suspicious of them as well. But she also seemed to really like Hazel, so I knew she wasn't going to say anything. I also don't want to jump to conclusions, so I decide I would stick by Zira's side when Hazel and Nico decided to question her.

Later on, while we are waiting to leave the school, I sneak away from where Zira stands with Aylin to call my mom and tell her about it. Hazel and Nico were at the principal's office listening to Mr. Viotto's new student lectures.

"Vaṇakkam Am'mā!" I greet her.

"Vanakkam!" My mom greets back. "It is nice to see you are finally taking your Tamil lessons seriously." She speaks in a Srilankan accent as that is where my family is originally from. My father is an American with Srilankan ancestors and my mother was born in Sri Lanka. She always teases me about how American I sound when I try to learn the language.

"I always take them seriously!" I complain.

"Oh, but English studies are more important. I wanted to practice soccer Am'mā. Appā, let me hang out with friends." My mom teases.

"Mom." I say. "This is not why I called you."

I can hear my mom giggle on the other end of the line. "Okay Sajan, what is it?"

"These two new kids want to come to Zira's house. I think Aylin might want to stay, too. I was wondering if I could also stay there for a while."

"Jiowliokadobko," That's what my mom calls Zira's mom. It's one of her strange middle names. My mom loves the way it sounds.

"Uh, yeah."

"What about the kids. What are their names? Are their parents okay with it?"

"Um, they are Nico di Angelo and Hazel Levesque. They said their parents were okay with them going to some stranger's house."

"Oh, tell them I won't take them until I have full parent permission from their parents or guardians. I'll contact Aylin's mom. I should be at the school in a few minutes and then I'll take you, Zira, and whoever else to Jiowliokadobko's place."

"Okay." My mother and I say our goodbyes. I hang up and head back to where Zira is with Aylin. Nico and Hazel are with them. Zira immediately turns to me.

"Where'd you go?" She asks.

"My mom's coming in a few minutes." I answer.

"Oh. Okay."

"Can I come?" Aylin asks, despite the fact that she looks absolutely disgusted about the fact that she'll have to sit in a car with me for 45.7 minutes.

"If your mom says—"

"Calling her now!" And Aylin takes her phone out and disappears somewhere to speak to her mom.

Zira and I are left with Nico and Hazel.

Nico narrows his eyes at me. "So you two live together?"

"No!" Zira answers quickly. I am inwardly offended. It's like she can't stand the thought of being related to me. What did I do? Wait a second. Perhaps there's another reason to why she'd hate to be related to me... and it doesn't have anything to do with me being a bad person (which I swear I'm not. Never did anything bad to her in my 12 years of existence.). Maybe it has more to do with me being a good person.

Maybe...

"My mom's just kinda crazy." Zira explains as Hazel looks at me, an eyebrow raised. She looks strangely defensive even though she's known Zira for less than three hours. "Like, to the point where Sajan's mother is literally the one who raised me. Taught me everything I know. Especially the patient part. Really need the patient part."

"Um who's your mom?" Hazel questions, worriedly. 

Zira notices. "She's not a bad person! She's just... misunderstood!" She defends her mother.

"I didn't mean—"

"No, it's okay." Zira sighs. "My mom's name is Desdemona Esogkitalula Jiowliokadobko Iokaghrefostu and so on."

"You're joking." Nico states, staring.

"Nope. I am entirely serious."

"E sock kid a lula? I owe a kog?" Hazel scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "What even is a kog?"

I smile and Zira laughs at their confusion. Then I remember what my mom told me about her only taking Hazel and Nico to Zira's place if they had full parental permission.

"Oh dang, I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Zira asks.

"My mom says she won't take you two," I glance at Hazel and Nico. "Unless she sees proof of parental permission."

"Proof?" Hazel questions.

"Like messages, call history, maybe you could call your parents or older sibling in front of her... something like that."

Hazel looks very confused. Nico sighs and drags Hazel away. "C'mon."

"But we don't have—"

Nico cuts her off with a single word. "Mist."

Hazel seems to understand despite the fact that what he said made absolutely no sense. _Mist? What the heck is Mist?_

My mom arrives shortly after Hazel and Nico leave. Aylin bounces over to Zira and me a while later, the grin on her face telling me that her mom has allowed her to come. My mom lets her sit shotgun since the other part of the van is occupied by male species.

We wait forever for Hazel and Nico to return. My two older brothers start complaining about how they'll be late to chat on discord with their friends. My little brother, who is normally very calm and quiet, starts kicking Aylin's seat, much to her annoyance. My mom tells me to get out of the car and walk around with him to calm him down. My baby brother sleeps through everything. 

After three laps around the entire school, which is very humongous, my legs are sore, my feet hurt, and my little brother is still bouncing around with all the energy in the world. Hazel is waiting for us at the school's entrance.

"We're coming." She informs me. "Nico's already in the van."

Then she kneels down so that she is about the height of my brother. "And what's your name?"

"Aahva." My little brother puffs out his chest proudly. "My name is Aahva."

"That's a nice name." Hazel smiles. "I like it."

As we walk towards the van, Hazel and Aahva are having a whole conversation. Hazel seems nice like Zira and certainly doesn't hate boys like Aylin, but I'm still having doubts about her. She's new, we've barely known her for three hours, and she's already asked to come over to Zira's place.

After a short ride, we arrive at Zira's house. It's small with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a tiny living space.

Aylin leaps out the van with a quick goodbye to my mom, as if she's being chased by a swarm of bees. Nico follows her. Zira, Hazel, and I say goodbye to my brothers and mother. Aahva is extremely reluctant to let Hazel go and after she leaves he turns to me, and with extreme sureness on his chubby face, he states that Hazel will become his girlfriend.

Zira's mom greets us as soon as we open the door:

"Nyob zoo ubava Háizimen!"

I glance at Zira.

She sighs. "Hmong, Macedonian, and Chinese. Translated as 'Hello lovely children.'"

"Three languages at the same time?" Hazel asks.

"Ah, yes. Welcome to my world." Zira answers.


End file.
